In what at first glance seems like a step backward in the mobile payment space, Google Wallet is close to launching a physical plastic card. So much for all the oracles predicting the imminent fall of cash and plastic.

Read the tech news these days, and you could be forgiven for thinking that folding cash and credit cards will soon be extinct, replaced by digital wallets in our smartphones. But the reality hasn't lived up to the hype, and a growing chorus of experts say it probably never will.

Apple's iPhone 5 added many new features, but one highly-anticipated improvement was left out: the near-field communications chip that would allow you to make purchases with a wave of the smartphone, using your built-in mobile wallet.

Lately, it seems like you can't go a week without hearing about how some new mobile payment platform is poised to revolutionize how you spend money: Apps like Square, PayPal's Zong and Google Wallet, to name just a few. We run done the options so you can pick the right for you.

Netflix's dramatic reversal, a cash-crunched wireless carrier, a desperate handset maker, blessings from Europe for Microsoft, and Steve Jobs: The Motion Picture. This is the stuff that will dominate high-tech headlines in the coming days. Here's what to watch as the week unfolds.

Remember when eBay was cool? You'll have to think hard, because those days are long gone. The online auction site used to carry cool, quirky merchandise, as well as serving as a source of last resort for otherwise impossible-to-find items. Nowadays, it's basically being held up by PayPal, which will soon face challenges of its own.